The Mission Series: Day SeventyFive  Nap Time
by Obi the Kid
Summary: 7th in the series.  Day SeventyFive.


TITLE: The Mission Series - Day Seventy-Five: Nap Time

AUTHOR: Obi the Kid

RATING: PG

SUMMARY: Pre-TPM. It was a long and boring mission…

FEEDBACK: Yes, please.

The characters and venue of Star Wars are copyrighted to Lucas Films Limited. The characters not recognizable from this venue are copyrighted to Tracy C. Knight. The story is the intellectual property of Tracy C. Knight and is copyrighted to her. She makes no profit from the writing or distribution of this story.

Day Seventy-Five: Nap Time

The apprentice watched his master out of the corner of his eye. The man's head was slowly nodding forward and then being jerked back up. His eyes struggling to stay open. Gently he kicked at his boot under the table. At once Qui-Gon Jinn was awake and alert. But not for long. A moment later, his head began to bob again.

Obi-Wan kicked him again and whispered to him. "Master, wake up."

Alert again. "What? I'm here. What's going on?"

"You're sleeping, Master. During the meetings. Governor Palto is ending his speech again. For the third time. I think. I hope."

"I was not sleeping, Obi-Wan. I am a Jedi Master, I do not sleep during important meetings."

"I know, you were just resting your eyes. And your head. And your entire body was about to follow."

Qui-Gon's eyes began to slide shut again. His head leaned to the right, towards the apprentice, landing on his shoulder.

"Master!"

Head jerked up again. "Huh?"

"Master, I should excuse us from the meetings. You're not paying any mind to what they are saying."

"Let's be realistic, Obi-Wan, is anyone paying any mind to this?"

"That's not the point, Master. As boring as this is, we need to at least pretend that we're interested. That's hard to do when the lead negotiator is asleep! Master!" Obi-Wan's whispers became louder as Qui-Gon's head again fell onto his shoulder. The boy sighed and shook his head. Further efforts to wake his master without attracting attention were unsuccessful.

Palto concluded his latest speech, scanned the room for those who were in agreement with him until his gaze fell on the Jedi. Eyes of the entire room followed and within seconds, Obi-Wan and his dozing master were the center of attention.

The padawan had no choice but to lie his way through this one. "Governor, I apologize. Master Jinn has been feeling somewhat under the weather the last few days and has not been sleeping well. I believe it's finally caught up with him today. If you would excuse us for the remainder of the day. Please continue with your meetings however. I will patch into them through the local holo-net channel so that we can stay updated."

"Very well, Knight Kenobi. However, I must note for the record that Master Jinn didn't not seem the least bit ill yesterday."

"No, he didn't appear so, but he's obviously not himself at this moment. Please excuse us. And continue."

Obi-Wan shook Qui-Gon awake and slowly escorted him from the large hall. He latched on to the older man's arm trying to keep him steady as they made their way outside and to their chauffeured transport which would take them back to their suite. Once inside the transport, Qui-Gon became alert again. "Obi-Wan? Where are we going? What about the meetings?"

"They are still going on. Without us. I've taken care of things, Master. You need rest. And don't tell me that you're not tired."

The transport ride was short and within minutes they were walking into the suite. This had become their home for the duration of this mission. The duration of this tediously long, seemingly endless mission. Obi-Wan lead the older Jedi into the

main room and pushed him onto the couch where Qui-Gon fell face first into the

soft cushions. He mumbled something to his student.

"Ut uout the eetings, Owi-an?"

"I told the Governor that you were ill, Master."

"U ied to em."

"Yes, I lied. I couldn't possibly tell them the truth, could I? That you were bored beyond capacity to stay awake? Bored by the relentless talking and talking and talking and…not getting anywhere. Honestly I think they were further along with these battles before we got here. So, you are sick. And if you don't want to be sick, then humor me."

Qui-Gon rolled over on the couch, until he was lying on his back, eyes closed. Deep breath. "I'm not sick. We should go back to the meetings." A weak attempt to get up, and Obi-Wan pushed him back down.

"No, we shouldn't. You need rest, Master. And you need to pretend that you're sick. Governor Palto is already suspicious. He knows you weren't ill yesterday, even though I told him that you were."

"Obi-Wan…"

"They'll just have to deal with our absence and understand, Master. Surely they can't expect us to be there every moment of every word. We are human. Not machines. We get sick. We get bored…out of our minds."

"And evidently, we lie."

"Master, you have lied on occasion. And I only did it to save face for us. Should I comm Governor Palto and tell him that you were not ill? That you were bored out of your skull instead?"

A moment of thought, Qui-Gon pursed his lips together. "Ah, no. That would not be wise, Obi-Wan. Can you help me get these boots off? I think they're stuck to my feet, I've been in them so long. Maybe we can attend tomorrow's meetings barefoot." He cracked a smile as the boots slid from his tired feet. "Thank you."

"What about tomorrow, Master? Should I tell them we won't be at the meetings?"

"No, we can't do that. No more sick days. It doesn't help things. And it just extends the mission by another day each time we do that."

"At this point, does a day really make a difference?"

"No, but…" the master stretched his long frame to the ends of the couch and sighed. "…it'll be over eventually, Obi-Wan. You must be…" An extended yawn interrupted his sentence. "Patient."

"If you say so, Master. Is that what you were doing today? Being patient?"

"No, this has gone far beyond patience, Padawan."

"Do you think this will this ever end?"

"Logic says yes. But then I hear Palto and Surratto and all of the others begin their babbling again, and logic goes out the window. I think we might be here for the rest of our lives."

Obi-Wan plopped himself onto a nearby chair. "Please don't say that, Master. There has to be something we can do to speed things along. I don't think this planet is in danger of becoming too unstable as Master Windu believes, it would take them fifteen years to decide if they actually wanted to be unstable. Perhaps we should talk to Master Yoda again."

"Let me sleep on it. I can't sleep soundly with visions of that little troll in my head. I'll end up dreaming backwards and lecturing myself in my sleep. You're free to do whatever you wish for the rest of the day, Obi-Wan. I am going to lay right here and never move again."

"Until tomorrow morning."

Qui-Gon sighed deeply. "Don't remind me. Just let me sleep."

"I'd better find the local channel that broadcasts the meetings. I promised the Governor that I would keep and eye on how things were proceeding."

"Good, that'll put me to sleep quickly."

"I'll turn the volume up loud to you can feel like you're right there in the middle of things."

"If we ever get off this planet, and I ever wake up and realize what's been going on, I think you'll be in for a very long lecture, my dear Padawan."

"At the rate things are going here, Master, that won't happen for a long, long time."

Finding the correct channel, Obi-Wan cranked up the volume and slumped into his chair again. It wasn't long until both Jedi were deep asleep and snoring loudly.

END


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